Weiner's gone in NY minute

As the nation observed the 12th anniversary of 9/11 this week, New Yorkers once again displayed their ability to repel a noxious force hell-bent on domination and mayhem.

I refer, of course, to the failed mayoral campaign of Anthony Weiner. If Eliot Spitzer never removed his Hanes during sex, Weiner never removed his hubris after sexting. But at least Spitzer managed to maintain a semblance of dressed-down decorum, compared to Weiner's brawling bid and naked power grab.

Here's the take-away, if one exists. While women bemoan that they can't have it all — career, marriage, kids — neither can men like Weiner, who mistakenly believed he could balance wife, family, narcissism, ego, politics and sexual perversity. Even for an overconfident overachiever, something had to give.

In this case, Weiner may have lost both his career and his wife, the glamorous Huma Abedin, who appeared by his side in July for alleged support and hasn't been seen since. She was a no-show at his concession party, unlike former sext mate and newly minted porn star Sydney Leathers, who was not allowed inside because the crowd had yet to be dipped in a vat of penicillin.

"He's such an embarrassment," said the newly inflated Leathers, sporting a tight red dress and surgical enhancements so large they could airlift the Chrysler Building. Her appearance prompted Weiner's aides to choreograph his entrance through a side door, making him the first political candidate in history forced to sneak into his own election night party.

The improbable circus began when the disgraced ex-congressman emerged from a two-year public exile to enter the crowded race for mayor, a decision audacious enough before tawdry details emerged that he continued to sext strange women on the Internet after being forced to resign from Congress for sexting strange women on the Internet.

He tried to out-brash his brash constituents and it didn't fly, but it was a nice try. "Quit isn't the way we roll in New York City," Weiner claimed in an ad, but New Yorkers know when they're being played. Meanwhile, he ran his campaign like he was a guest on Jerry Springer and managed to make the dialed-down Spitzer look like Noel Coward.

Where to begin? Weiner dismissed a rival as "grandpa" at an AARP-sponsored event. His spokeswoman had to apologize after using the dreaded C-word to describe an intern who wrote about her bad experience. Last week, he exploded at a voter in an encounter that went viral.

Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC achieved the impossible by eliciting sympathy for the candidate after he sandbagged him on election eve.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked.

"I don't understand the question," a tired-looking Weiner replied. "What is wrong with me that I care so much about the issues that I fight for every day, that I have my entire career?" Surprisingly, that wasn't the point of the question.

He campaigned on Election Day with a 21-month-old political prop otherwise known as his son, who was repeatedly photographed in tears or looking frightened, an appropriate response for anyone forced to spend an afternoon in the bosom of Anthony Weiner. Rather fittingly, the failed candidate ended the evening by flipping a finger at a reporter, who should perhaps be grateful he didn't flash a different appendage.

Here's a second take-away from this crazy race: People are sometimes willing to give screw-ups a second chance. But a third? No way, Carlos Danger. Now that New Yorkers handily humiliated Weiner the way Weiner humiliated Huma — in a marriage I give another month, tops — the city that never sleeps deserves a rest.